While I was shopping…

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

I was at the grocery store the other day when something happened; I got to see the face of the GOP supporter today. That “face” was that of a check-out clerk, a lady in her mid-50’s, I’d guess, who was working for minimum wage in a grocery store in a small town in South Carolina.

Like all the big chain stores, if you have one of their “cards” you get select items discounted. I never have those store “cards” on me, as my wife has them, so, I asked the lady behind me if she’d let us scan her card. She was very nice about it and handed the clerk her card, mentioning that the benefits “weren’t what they used to be”, to which, I agreed. I told her that it was happening with pretty much everything, and, replied to her that it wouldn’t be long before companies stopped offering benefits totally.

And that is when it happened, when the clerk snorted in derision and said, “that’s the change people voted for…“

To say that I was shocked that a lady of her age would say that would be a lie; I wasn’t. I did become angry, however, because she was the face of the GOP supporter in South Carolina.

At her age, she wasn’t old enough to be on Medicare, and probably wouldn’t be eligible for another ten years. Considering that she was working for minimum wage, or near it, as a grocery store clerk would lead a person to believe that she needed that job to make ends meet financially. While the food chain offers a medical plan for its workers, you can bet it doesn’t cover 100% of the costs if she ever used it, leaving her to pay the rest of the cost. One hip replacement and she would probably be bankrupt even with her medical insurance, just as so many in America today have been bankrupted by rising medical costs. And, yet, here was this clerk deriding the Obama administration for, of all things, being “responsible” for companies lessening or stopping customer benefit programs? How ignorant can a person get? But then, that is the face of the GOP supporter in South Carolina; barely making it financially, one disaster away from financial ruin, and yet, so willing to vote against their own interests because a politician talks about family values and God. And to top it off, so blind to anything around them, so ignorant, that they blame every bad thing that happens on Democrats.

“That is the ‘change’ people voted for…“? Seriously? I’m not pleased with President Obama, either, but, I know enough to know that companies starting to lose customer benefit programs has to do with their profit margin, not politics. We have politicians and the media to blame for these people’s ignorance, especially in South Carolina.

The State newspaper, based in Columbia, South Carolina, ran editorial after editorial on how bad of a Governor we had in Mark Sanford, and list of editorials against Governor Sanford go back years, yet, when he got caught having an affair, when he suddenly was in true trouble, what does The State newspaper do? It prints editorials that scold him for his actions while defending his right to remain in office!

I am not convinced that those violations merit impeachment, and I am not sure he needs to be prosecuted, but he does need to make a compelling case that all of his actions were appropriate – which he has not yet done.

This is coming from a newspaper that was given the emails exposing Governor Sanford’s affair six months prior to the story breaking, sat on them, and didn’t even investigate!

We all have gotten to read South Carolina United States Senator Jim DeMint’s factless screeds. Yes, America under President Obama is heading down the path of tyranny and will become just like Iran if the GOP doesn’t stop him! Anything in The State newspaper questioning that claim? Any editorial at all denouncing the rhetoric, much less a mere fact checking? No, and, don’t hold your breath waiting for one to be printed by The State editorial board. It, instead, prints articles like this, which is filled with GOP talking points written by a GOP South Carolina State Senator.

I applaud Sen. DeMint not only for proposing sensible reforms but also for opposing a government system proven around the world to have failed miserably. Thank you Sen. DeMint; we know you will stand strong regardless of those who distort your record.

Mr. Bryant, a pharmacist and small business owner, represents Anderson County in the S.C. Senate.

Maybe The State could ask Mr. Bryant if, indeed, socialized health care has failed worldwide, why it is that Stephen Hawking extols the virtue of the British socialized health care system. Of course, it was a GOP press shill who tried to claim that Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have survived if he had to rely on health care in Britain, except, he did.

The superheated debate broadened this week to include renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, a British icon who suffers from motor neurone disease. A U.S. newspaper wrote that under the British system Hawking would be allowed to die – an assertion that Hawking said was absurd.

“I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS,” Hawking said, joining the ranks of those praising Britain’s system.

For a newspaper that claims it only deals with “local issues”, it has failed, at every turn, to do real journalism, even on its “local” issues. Your state’s Governor is having an affair and you have the emails with the sordid details? Don’t investigate it. Your state’s Treasurer was giving out cocaine at GOP parties? Don’t investigate who was there doing cocaine with him. That is the level of total journalistic dishonesty The State newspaper employs; don’t investigate GOP corruption in South Carolina. But, it doesn’t stop at merely providing cover for the GOP.

With the likes of Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh stoking up “the base” with racist comments, promoting violence against Democratic politicians, and telling “the base” that President Obama is a Nazi, you would think that an editorial board, especially one in a state like South Carolina, would have the moral imperative to denounce such accusations and comparisons. The State editorial board, however, is more concerned about how a local park is bringing down the property values of an upscale neighborhood and the residents “are not happy about it”.

South Carolina prides itself on its religious piety, even going so far as to have a bill introduced to ban the sale of sex toys in the state. It’s politicians run on family values, being conservative and God. Funny thing, people invoking religion in the South, especially when it comes to the issue of torture.

Among those influenced by Christian teachings, a majority (52 percent) oppose torture–14 points higher than white evangelicals in the South overall. In contrast, among those who rely most on life experiences and common sense, less than one-in-three (31 percent) oppose torture.

Talk about being morally bankrupt! Only 38% of white evangelicals in the South oppose the use of torture! These are the same people who think it is morally repugnant that people can buy sex toys? Seriously? Sex toys bad. Torturing people good. Seriously. Who cares if a couple wants to buy kinky bondage for her at Restricted21 and enjoy themselves? As long as all consent, it should be fine.

The same people who decry the reformation of health care as “socialism”, who want government “out of their lives”, are the same people who want the government to help them send their kids to religious private schools in the form of school vouchers. Seriously. The government providing affordable health care for all is socialism and bad. The government paying so their kids can have a religious education, however, isn’t socialism. These people don’t seem to understand there is a word for them; hypocrites.

The GOP has dropped all pretenses; of honesty, of civility, of decency. They simply refuse to believe that they were tossed out of power by the public, resoundingly, over the past two elections because they drove this country into a ditch on every issue it touched; the economy, environmental issues, national security, international affairs. The American public spoke during the elections and gave control to the Democratic Party. The White House. Sixty Senate seats in the Senate so the GOP threat of filibustering EVERY piece of legislation became a non-threat. The House.

But, the reason the GOP has dropped all pretenses is because they don’t have to pretend anymore; all that is left of “their base” are the crazies, the extremists, the racists. GOP politicians are now pandering to them, and, to do that, they can no longer couch their statements in innuendo, lest, they are branded “not conservative enough”. So, the GOP politicians embrace the crazies who think President Obama was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii, even though Hawaii officials have twice confirmed it. They push the socialism talk, fascism talk, that he’s pushing nazi policies, anything they can, all in the name of “politics”.

Yes, I have seen the face of the GOP supporter, and, the next time I see that face, hear their ignorance, I’m going to ask that face one question:

If the people you listen to told you to go home, kill your kids, set your house on fire, and kill yourself, because if you don’t the evil government under President Obama will get you all… would you? Are you THAT batsh!t f@cking ignorant? No? You sure sound like it!